<p>hi all. i visited this forum when i was applying but have only revisited recently and decided to register to ask a question.</p>
<p>has anyone heard from uchicago's biological sciences programs after their interviews? i interviewed in early march and have yet to hear......</p>
<p>schroding12,</p>
<p>I did not personally interview there, but I know someone who did so in early march, and she told me that they had accepted her.</p>
<p>To Biologic,
When did you get the admission notification from IUPUI? I am also attracted by the large program IBMG. However, I am not sure whether to choose it in the end due to its rank and the city of Indianapolis. What do you think about this?</p>
<p>to Lily:</p>
<p>what's wrong with IUPUI's rank? It's not up there with UCSF/Harvard..., but still pretty high.</p>
<p>Lily,</p>
<p>I got the notification in February 21st or 22nd...about a week after the last interview weekend. I am not sure about the ranking you are talking about either, but the IU School of Medicine is known for many types of research. Their funding for cancer and hematopoietic stem cell research is notable and collaborative efforts between medicine, biology, and informatics is also a big plus for the school. Personally, I like Indianapolis...it doesn't feel like a huge city, but there is plenty to do and experience there. The people were kind and I had an overall pleasant experience during my time there.</p>
<p>Like Wampa said, IUPUI isn't Harvard or other top tier schools, but IU Medicine's main campus is what draws me there. With the aforementioned advantages plus access to translational research and the interaction between several big academic and regional hospitals and the school, I am very satisfied with what the IBMG program has to offer. Plus, you get a Ph.D from IU, which in my opinion is not a disadvantage at all!</p>
<p>Biologic,
Thank you for your opinion upon IUPUI. As for me, my interest lies in neuroscience, especially neuropharmacology. Currently I have three options: USC, IUPUI, SUNY-SB. Since my bf is at Stanford, it is likely for me to choose USC finally. I am wondering whether it is easy to transfer to another school next year. Does anybody know someone who has such experience, especially transferring to a highly-ranked university such as UCSD or Stanford School of Medicine?</p>
<p>Lily,</p>
<p>No problem. I think all of those options are quality schools with their own strengths. You certainly have the spread of geographic locations to choose from...one on each coast and one in the middle! I wish you the best in whatever you decide to do, and good luck.</p>
<p>Anybody heard about decisions for the NSF GRFP yet?</p>
<p>Bioangele-
Nope. Last week's Science says there will be only 825 awards this year, down from 940 or so in 2007. Maybe they had fewer applicants, but I'm still bummed. Here are the previous notification dates:
2007 - March 23 (on fastlane briefly), March 26 (e-mail)
2006 - March 30
2005 - April 9
2004 - March 18
2003 - April 4
2002 - March 15
2001 - March 20
...so we could expect an announcement any time now. If it helps, the announcements usually go out at the end of the day (5-8PM EST) so there's little point in checking throughout the day.</p>
<p>I'm also waiting to hear from the NSF. The website says late March so I'm guessing we'll know sometime next week.</p>
<p>Ouch, those numbers aren't too reassuring! Well, we can all keep our fingers crossed.</p>
<p>snowcapk, I think we interviewed at a lot of the same places - have you made a decision yet? I'm starting to feel pressured with lots of phone calls asking "DO YOU HAVE QUESTIONS, WHY HAVEN'T YOU ACCEPTED YET??" haha.</p>
<p>Bioangele, I haven't made a decision yet but I've narrowed it down to Harvard MCB or MIT Biology. I don't think winning an NSF would affect my decision, but I doubt I'll find out: I have no papers, no conferences, and a shoddy (probably?) proposal. I'm hoping that maybe they read so many applications that they'll just, y'know, not notice that I have no pubs. In a way I'm blessed because if I had given a poster presentation, they would look at that section at the end of the Previous Research Essay and be like, "Damn, only one conference and no papers?" But since I've done absolutely nothing, that section isn't even there - easier to overlook! mwahaha <em>tents fingers</em></p>
<p>Have you made a decision yet bioangele? Any ideas what you'll do for the summer?</p>
<p>Aw, I'm sure you'll be fine! I don't have any publications either, OR conferences...guess I was a late research bloomer in undergrad ;). I've been out of school for a year or so working so I'll be spending the summer saving up some money!</p>
<p>I'm pretty torn between Berkeley MCB and MIT Biology...I'm from/in CA right now, but really like the idea of moving to Boston (being naively ignorant of having to spend 4 months in the snow, living inside buildings and underground tunnels). I'm into structural bio, so berkeley has some pretty great faculty...but of course, so does MIT! I really liked MIT's program setup (classes, shorter rotations, the Pit) too. Harvard was really cool, but I'm not a fan of the new curriculum they're implementing or such a small class size.</p>
<p>Oh, and my coworker called the NSF and they told her March 31st...who knows if that's an absolute date or just the "official" one!</p>
<p>hey snowcapk and others: I didn't think NSF cared whether you have papers...in my understanding, what helps in getting the NSF grant are:
1.) The proposal is not directly applicable to medicine (NIH does that)
2.) It's an original idea that you have not already worked on directly
3.) It seems like you are seriously considering working on it and that is possible to do at the school you plan on going to.</p>
<p>that's just kinda the sum of what i heard</p>
<p>Wampa,</p>
<p>Choose Vanderbilt.</p>
<p>Yeah, hopefully my profs wouldn't have let me waste my time (and theirs I guess) applying for the NSF if publications were essentially required in order to win. I guess I overreacted because I found a website (R</a> Smith: NSF) that has successful applications, and they're totally out of my league. Meh.</p>
<p>Guess today wasn't the day. Maybe tomorrow :)</p>
<p>You guys forgot the most important aspect of a NSF application- a thorough discussion of broader impacts. Your application is toast without this! </p>
<p>Good luck everyone! Hopefully they will let us know next week. Where do they post the results first? Should we look at the online list of awards or log into our application to find out?</p>
<p>Dead on mtlve! I didn't forget about it, in fact I was warned about it two years in advance :) I wrote some things so cheesy that I'm ashamed to repeat them. Luckily I've had some tutoring/TAing/mentoring experiences worthy of (2), (3), and (4). The worst part was stating the obvious about what I will do in grad school for broader impacts. (Um, publish my papers in peer-reviewed journals? Go to conferences? Collaborate with my colleagues?) How did you guys handle this?</p>
<p>Also, I think that they normally send out the e-mails at the same time as they post the results. Last year there was a blooper: Fastlane was "down for maintenance" around the 23rd, but during bursts of functionality some people found the list of winners had been posted. The e-mails didn't go out until the 26th (a Monday). In other years people seem to have found out by e-mail. I'm getting that from some other forum topics on NSF:</p>
<p>NSF</a> Fellowship 2007 forum.thegradcafe.com
NSF</a> Fellowships forum.thegradcafe.com</p>
<p>I must really have nothing better to do. :D</p>
<p>snowcapk, I remember that you were deciding between harvard, mit and stanford. It seems like now you're down to MIT and harvard. Why did you choose to stay away from stanford?</p>